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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29331450">when neighbors start talking</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/'>Anonymous</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Neighbors, F/M, Multi, Pre-Relationship, Sole Survivor (Mass Effect), Spacer (Mass Effect)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:22:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,355</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29331450</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Shepard is forced to take a leave of absence in the aftermath of Akuze, she's prepared for a new life defined by mind-numbing days and nightmare-riddled nights. She's <i>not</i> prepared for her new neighbors.</p><p>Or, Five Types of Neighbors and How to Handle Them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Anonymous</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>when neighbors start talking</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s Shepard's first day in the apartment building, and her next-door neighbor just tried to kill her.</p><p>That’s the only logical explanation, she concludes, toeing the scorched patch on the carpet where she was standing moments earlier. It’s still smoldering, and the ball of her shoe hisses on contact as she tries to smother some of the red-hot synthetic fibers. She pulls her leg back a second later, but it’s too late – the stench of burning rubber prickles in her nostrils, and she doesn’t bother checking the sole of her shoe to gauge how much of it has just melted. Too much, probably. She'll need to order new shoes after this.</p><p>Flashes of her last conversation with Anderson drift through her head. It was also her last time at an Alliance base, and she’d stood in parade rest in front of the tribunal, clenching her fists hard enough that her nails carved aching crescents in their wake. She wasn’t sure what was worse – the finality in his voice when he patted her psych eval and consigned her to an extended sabbatical, or the sympathy in his eyes when he waxed on about understandable trauma and therapeutic services.</p><p>He ended that one-sided talk on a tangent about her temporary Citadel lodgings. “Get to know your neighbors,” he’d said. “I’m sure they’ll be pleasant folks,” he’d said.</p><p>Right, Anderson.</p><p>Because “pleasant folks” rig flame-throwing turrets to deploy at the ring of a door chime, she thinks, maybe a bit uncharitably. Then she eyes the remnants of said turret, still sparking weakly by her feet, before sliding her gaze to the spray of dirt and shattered pottery from the houseplant she cracked over the turret’s figurative head. No, Shepard amends to herself, she's being very charitable. At least, she <em>tried</em> to be.<br/>
<br/>
Shepard had scoured the extranet in an attempt to follow Anderson’s advice. As a kid, she'd spent her childhood hopping from military base to base. As an adult, she'd spent her career touring from ship to ship. She had no experience being anyone’s neighbor. Not in a civilian capacity, and definitely not as a tenant in a high-rise apartment building. So, when one article promised Five Ways to Get to Know Your Neighbors, she took the author at his word. Shepard went to one of the few shops she knew in the Citadel, picked a low-maintenance plant as a greeting gift, and brought it to her next-door neighbor’s door. There had been another article that piqued her interest, actually, but she barely skimmed the first entry – “The Dangerous Neighbor” – before closing it. “Five Types of Neighbors and How to Handle Them,” the article had been cynically titled, and now Shepard wishes she read through the damn thing.</p><p>Shepard is torn from her thoughts by unmistakable hiss of a door about to open, and she's moving again in an instant. She sweeps the circular floor to find something to arm herself with, now that her “Hello, I’m your new neighbor” offering is dead on the ground. The turret catches her attention again, and Shepard bends down for it, figuring she can launch the broken machine at whoever comes out of that door. She’ll use it as a distraction, use it to buy enough time to get to safety.</p><p><em>Just like she used her squad on Akuze.<br/>
<br/>
</em>The sneering voice slithers into her mind, unexpected and unwelcomed, and Shepard tenses. No, she tells herself, that’s <em>never</em> how it was – that’s not what happened, and she knows it – <em>she knows it</em>. And in the midst of shaking her head violently, an angry attempt to dislodge the shadows coiling around her brain, she misses the sound of footsteps. She <em>doesn’t</em> miss the unmistakable chill when something metal and muzzle-shaped is pressed flush to her nape.</p><p>Shepard freezes in a half crouch. Someone behind her – the gun’s owner, probably – speaks in a chilly, modulated voice, accented even with a translator. “What do you think you’re – ”</p><p>But before Shepard can really react, the speaker stops mid-threat, and the gun falls from Shepard’s neck.</p><p>“Oh. Oh, Keelah.”</p><p>The tone is different this time – nervous, almost embarrassed as the speaker swears again. Shepard hears the click of a safety flicked on, then sees an alien hand reach down to help her up.<br/>
<br/>
“I am <em>so</em> sorry.”</p><p>She barely glances at the proffered hand before standing on her own. After being fired at and held at gunpoint, Shepard is past being courteous. She pulls herself to her full height instead, and to her mild surprise, finds herself glaring <em>down</em> at her would-be assailant.</p><p>“I am so, <em>so</em>, sorry!” It’s a slight quarian, clad in violet from helmeted head to cleft toe. “I didn't realize; you're the new neighbor.”</p><p>Her name is Tali’Zorah nar Rayya (“But you can call me Tali!”) and, as it turns out, she’s not a danger at all. At least, not to Shepard. In fact, she’s rather friendly, and the first thing she does after ushering Shepard into her home and parking the unamused human on a couch is apologize, again.<br/>
<br/>
“So sorry! I saw you moving in the other day, and I was <em>just</em> planning to pay you a visit, welcome you to the ‘neighborhood.’” She lets out a nervous laugh, but at Shepard’s silence, continues awkwardly. “And let you know that my apartment has an automated defense system.”</p><p>Shepard crosses her arms, staring impassively at the young quarian sitting across from her. “I noticed.”</p><p>“I prefer to be on the safe side,” Tali explains sheepishly. “Many people don’t like to have quarians on the Citadel… I know some would rather get rid of us.”</p><p>“So you get rid of them first?”</p><p>Tali flinches and shifts in her seat. “Ah – that is – is not my intention. I am sorry,” she apologizes again for the nth time, “I don't get many visitors.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah,” Shepard lets out a humorless snort, “Thank goodness for that.”</p><p>“When I set it up, I programmed it to recognize friendlies. The other residents on this floor, some deliverypeople, the landlord – I added you to that list now.”<br/>
<br/>
“Thanks,” is Shepard’s dry reply. The apartment falls into an uncomfortable silence, with Tali floundering for a conversation starter and Shepard offering nothing but a blank stare.</p><p>“Um.” Tali finally speaks again. “Is this your first time on the Citadel?”<br/>
<br/>
“No.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, I see.” There’s an extra tremble in the quarian’s voice now, and they fall into silence once more. Shepard sighs. Feeling just the slightest twinge of guilt about making the quarian squirm over an honest – if potentially lethal – mistake, Shepard throws her a bone. “I’ve been to the Citadel a few times, but never this ward in particular.”<br/>
<br/>
Tali perks up at this, and her glowing eyes narrow into happy crescents. “If you're new to Zakera, I can show you around sometime. Although…” She starts to fidget again, lacing her six fingers together before twisting them back and forth. “I don't know any good levo restaurants.”<br/>
<br/>
Shepard raises an eyebrow. Tali glances helplessly down at her envirosuit, increasingly perturbed. “Or clothing stores. But I can show you how to get to Zakera Point. Or the nearest C-Sec office. Or… or the Shrine of the Enkindlers –”<br/>
<br/>
“Tali.”</p><p>Shepard finally interrupts, sizing up the flustered quarian with an analytical eye. Tali set up that security system by herself, and the omni-tool mounted on her wrist is obviously modded. And knowing quarians… “Could you show me some good electronics shops? I’ve been meaning to get a new omni-tool.”<br/>
<br/>
Tali looks up again, hands stilling and relief radiating from her posture. “Oh, that? That I can do. What model do you currently use?”</p><p>“Until recently? Bluewire. But I busted it some time ago and haven’t had the chance to get another.”</p><p>“A Bluewire?” Tali repeats, and her helmet bounces up and down in an enthusiastic nod. “I see. Aldrin Labs does okay, but I would recommend you get a Nexus because the specs are…”</p><p>And as Tali launches into an animated talk about microframes and simultaneous processes, Shepard leans back, uncrosses her arms, and lets herself relax for the first time since Akuze.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you enjoyed chapter one - I 100% blame this story on the power of nostalgia! They announced the Legendary Edition and the femshep trailer got me so hyped, I started reading ME fics like it's 2012 again. Then I remembered the fandom has too few AUs for my liking, and I ended up writing this silly lil fic.</p><p>As a small disclaimer: No promises on how much Shakarian there will be; I'm writing with the pairing in mind, but to be safe, expect this to be a pre-relationship fic only. That said, our favorite turian shows up next chap :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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